Christmas Morning

It's funny how things change when you have a child, isn't it?

Josh and I decided to just give each other something small this year,

but honestly I would have been okay not getting anything.

I was more excited about watching Noah open his stocking & gifts.

Josh had to work Christmas Eve, so when he got off work Christmas

morning around six, he came home and got busy in the kitchen

making us some breakfast sandwiches. These sandwiches {which

are amazing by the way!} are what Josh grew up eating on Christmas

morning, so we decided to keep that tradition in our own family.

Sooo yummy!

We all sat down together and stuffed our faces!

Noah loved the breakfast sandwiches! In fact, I think it was his

very first time to taste the famous Bonjour Christmas sandwiches.

Not long after we finished eating, Noah climbed up on one

of the kitchen barstools so he could turn on the faucet and play

in the water. That boy loves to play in the kitchen sink!

You can tell by the look on his face in the first

picture he knows he isn't supposed to be up there.

And he got caught by Daddy!

And yes, Noah is wearing mummy pj's. Ha

I looked and looked for some cute Christmas pajamas

and couldn't find any! Even Walmart, of all places, was out.

Oh well. Guess I didn't look early enough.

Anyway, before we opened up stockings and presents,

we all sat down together and Daddy read the Christmas story.

It was a wonderful, quiet moment we spent together

reflecting on the birth of Jesus Christ.

And then Noah opened up his stocking. When we first gave it to him,

it was funny because he really didn't know what it was all about.

But it didn't take him long to figure it out.

He loved all of his stocking stuffers! He got

lots and lots of Toy Story stuff, a few cars, some

candy, a paint brush set, and a squishy ball. :)

Santa did good!

Noah loved the pound-a-ball toy he got.

He had so much fun hitting the balls with the

hammer and watching them go through the holes

onto the ramps that took them to the bottom.

He loved it so much, he didn't even care about

any of the other presents he had. Ha.

And then he saw Woody, and Buzz, and Jessie,

and Bullseye and all the other Toy Story characters...

and couldn't wait for Daddy to open up the box!

We spent a lot of the morning watching

Noah play with all of his new toys. So much fun!

It was a wonderful Christmas morning!

Marshmallow Pops & an Award

I can't seem to get back into blog-mode since we got back from vacation. Sigh. Does anyone else feel that way?? I have many things to blog about, but just can't seem to get my act together. Not a good way to start out the new year..

I just love this sprinkled-covered-marshmallow-eating face:

We made the cutest little candy covered marshmallow pops for Noah's MDO Christmas party, and boy did he love them. We had a few extras left over, so I placed them on the kitchen counter in a cute Christmas-y jar. As soon as Noah spotted them, they were long gone. The pops were so cute and super easy to make. Found the recipe here.

The possibilities are endless with these marshmallow pops. Sprinkle some pink or red on them and, voila, you have Valentine's pops!

On another note, The Trendy Blog Award has been floating around lately, and two very sweet ladies, Mandy and Khara, passed it along to me. I feel so honored! Thanks for thinking of me. I don't normally post/pass on awards {certainly not because I don't appreciate them}, but I just thought I'd go ahead and pass this one on because I'd like to recognize some people who I think have pretty trendy blogs too. :)

It is almost impossible for me to pick, so I'm breaking the rules {sorry!} and picking 15 people to give the award to {in no particular order}:

Danielle-- Take Heart

Melissa-- Two Little Tots

Lelan-- Hello, Good Gravy!

Brittney-- Brit and the Boys

Jami-- Hello! From the Natos

Meg-- A Boy, a Girl, and a Pug

Ashley-- Lemon and Lavender

Jacky-- The Sweetest Petunia

Tiffany-- Simply Mad for Maddox

Amanda-- i am mommy & i am baker

Stacia-- Little Yellow Treehouse

Chrissy-- Chrissy in America

Jill-- Mama Jill's Family Blog

Sarah-- Life{Sweet}Life

Kate-- See Kate Sew

I could have named so many other blog I love to read and visit everyday, but I think I was pushing it with fifteen. Oops. :)

Now... all you have to do to receive this award:

1. Post about your award

2. Pass it along to 10 other trendy bloggers.

3. Leave a link to the Trendy Blog Button so they can grab it. {here is the link}

Have a lovely day friends!

Favorite Moments & Posts of 2010

What a great year we have had! Here are my favorite moments and blog posts from 2010.

1. Hosted my first linky party this year. It was fun! Thanks to each one of you who linked up and participated. I loved reading about all of your wonderful family traditions! If you missed it, you can click here to read everyones Christmas traditions and start planning for next year.

2. Vacationed in beautiful Mexico with Josh. It was perfect. We are already planning our next adventure!

3. Noah didn't like Santa this year, but Josh did.

4. I started a new blog. It is a collection of all things that inspire me on a daily basis. Are you following along? Hope so!

5. My favorite Noah moments: here, here, here, and here.

6. Noah was involved with his very first Christmas Program this year. Have you seen the video? Oh goodness, it is cute!

7. One of my favorite posts about Einstein.

8. Noah turned two this year. Sigh.

9. Need a little help with your blog? Check out the tutorials I posted this past year. And for those of you who have used one or two or several of them, I hope you found them very helpful!

10. I met the fabulous Bakerella in Dallas this past October! And I gave away one of her signed Cake Pop books! Definitely one of my favorite giveaways!

11. I made my first batch of homemade play-dough {super easy!} and Noah loved playing with it.

12. Noah dressed up as Buzz Lightyear for Halloween this year. It was his first year to go door to door; he loved it! Really, I think Mommy and Daddy loved it just as much as he did. What fun we all had!

13. I got creative and made some printables this year. Hope you enjoyed them!

14. I signed up for Home Ec, so I could teach myself how to sew. I have loved every minute of it! Some of my favorite projects were the tote bag, the NoNo Monster, and the gift pouch.

15. Noah goes to school for the first time.

16. My sister got married this year! Many thanks to the wonderful, Chriselda, for giving Abby memories she will be able to look back on forever.

17. Experienced my first Black Friday. Was it worth it? Nope, don't think so.

18. My favorite post about Einstein and Noah. And this one is definitely runner up!

19. Oh, what a sweet, sweet sound!

20. My submitted picture to the iheartdesserts challenge was picked top ten! Such an exciting moment for me!

21. God provided.

22. Did you know my hubby holds the title of "Oreo eating champion?"

23. I had the amazing opportunity to go to Jamaica on a mission trip this past summer; what a blessing it was to be a part of God's work there. I'm embarrassed I've only posted this about the trip, but regardless if I end up posting about it or not, it was a life experience that will always be etched in my heart. And guess who is leading a group to the same place I went this past Summer? Josh! So excited for him!

24. Sorry ladies, he's all mine!

25. I was nominated for i am mommy's "Awesomest Overall Blog" award! We were so very close all the way to the end, but ended up in second place. What an honor, regardless! Thank you for all of your votes and support our little ol' blog.

26. Snow? In Fort Worth?

27. Noah transitioned to a toddler bed! So proud!

28. What fun we had at Mayfest this year! Definitely want to make it a family tradition.

29. How could I forget? Still makes me cringe just thinking about it.

30. Josh's one post this entire year. He got busted!

31. I have made so many amazing blogger friends this past year and I am so thankful for each one of you!

Happy New Year Everyone! The countdown begins...

Merry Christmas

I can't think of a better way to start our Christmas weekend.

As Noah and I snuggled on the couch this morning to watch this video,

Noah kept signing something to me that I couldn't understand at first.

Then it hit me.

He was signing "Jesus" every time he saw the baby.

There is nothing that blesses my heart more.

Truly it is all about Jesus.

Hope you and your family have a very Merry Christmas!

Christmas Traditions Linky Partay

Seriously, Christmas is in four days.

Four days!

My favorite month of the year has come and gone

so quickly just like I knew it would. Sigh.

So, anyway, since there are lots of

Christmas parties going on right now, I

thought I'd throw my own blogger partay!

Wanna join the fun? The more the merrier, right?

I love reading about family traditions, don't you?

I have come across some really great traditions over the

past month in Blogland and I just can't get enough of them.

Whether it is a family tradition passed down for generations

or a new tradition recently started, I love to hear about them all!

So, I thought, how much fun would it be for all of us to

share our Christmas family traditions with each other!?

I hope I'm not the only one excited about this? Ha.

So, I'll go first.

For as long as I can remember, my Nana has carried on the

tradition of the Grab Box. It is my absolute favorite tradition we have in

our family and I look forward to it each Christmas we are with her.

The Grab Box goes all the way back to when my mother was a little girl

{actually it may even go back to when Nana was little.}

My mother's grandpa {Nana's dad} would get a big ol' box and he would

wrap a bunch of small little presents and tie a string around each of them.

Then he would throw all the gifts into the box, and would attach each of

the strings to the outside of the box.

My mom told me the gifts were really more "necessity" type

things like a toothbrush, a roll of toilet paper {ha!}, or a pack of gum.

Each person around the Grab Box would take turns pulling a string

until there were no more gifts left.

Nana has continued the tradition of the Grab Box with

her grandchildren to this very day. She revised it a bit

by picking out small little gifts {instead of "necessity" things}

she thought each child would like. Things like lip gloss or a slinky.

Sweet, thought out little gifts from our Nana.

She would put each of our names on the outside of the box,

so we would know where to pull our strings.

Most of us are either in college or married, and

we still beg Nana for the Grab Box every Christmas.

{Noah's 1st Grab Box experience- Christmas 2009}

So, I shared with you one of my favorite Christmas

family traditions, now it's your turn!

I will post a linky party thingy at the bottom of this post,

so if you have written about your family traditions in a blog

post, you can link up. This is a great way to get your blog

out there for others to come visit.

For those of you who don't have a blog or those of you with one

but haven't posted about any of your Christmas traditions, then you

can just leave a comment below sharing them with us!

Here are a couple requests I have:

If you are sharing your traditions with us in a blog post,

would you please either link back to this specific post

{not just the main blog} or grab the party button

below so we can spread the word to others.

The more people who join in, the better!

And mingle! :) Spend some time visiting others

and leave some sweet comments on their blogs!

Make some new friends while you're at it!

Oh, and also, if you are linking up below,

make sure and link to the specific

blog post where you wrote about your

traditions, not just to your main blog.

Grab the Party Button:

<a border="0" href="http://libby-bonjour.blogspot.com/2010/12/christmas-traditions-linky-partay.html" target="_blank"><img src="http://i221.photobucket.com/albums/dd257/libbon/buttonforblog-1.gif" /></a>

The party will continue through the new year!

{So, if you'd like to write a blog post about your

traditions, then just link up when you've posted it.}

Let's have fun with this! :)

Come party with me!

(What happened to my linky thing?!)

Santa Claus!

This weekend we took Noah downtown to see Santa Claus.

He was definitely not a fan of the big guy in red.

But Josh was.

Right before we left, he went up to Santa and said,

"You're the most realistic Santa I've ever seen!"

And Santa looked at him like he was crazy and said

with his jolly voice, "Oh... well, thank you."

So funny.

p.s. Happy birthday Dad/Granddad!

We love you and hope your day is wonderful.

Anxious to see all of you this weekend!